Lancaster House in London is to host 17 key international business meetings for the Government during the Olympic Games. Taking part will be key business ambassadors such as fashion designer Stella McCartney and Apple designer Sir Jonathan Ive.
CN had reported the original announcement from Downing Street, 10 January, of a business conference to make the most of the Olympic opportunity.
Now the programme has been extended and an opening session will be addressed by Christine Lagarde, Head of the IMF, and Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank.
The meetings schedule is part of the UK Government’s drive to enlist Britain’s creative and business elite to play a key role in trying to secure big trade deals against the Olympic backdrop.
Heads of JCB, Jaguar Land Rover, McLaren Racing, Unilever, Diageo and M&S, will be part of the big push, as foreign VIPs and business leaders attending the Games are being wooed to return with their business.
The Government is set to announce several major deals already in place, as it seeks to exploit commercial opportunities of the Olympic legacy.
China and Brazil are sending big delegations and PM David Cameron will meet leading Chinese figures at an eight-hour ‘China Business Day’ at Lancaster House.
Brazilian business chiefs will also get the VIP glad-handing from Cameron & Co at the venue.
Chinese Entrepreneur Club Chairman Liu Chuanzhi, founder of computer giant Lenovo, told The Times newspaper, his mission was one of “basic discovery” that would allow private Chinese companies to find out how serious British companies were about collaboration.
“Both Governments say publicly they encourage investment, but I hear lots of complaints from both sides that the reality is much harder. In the UK I want to know whether the reality matches the talk. Where are we actually welcome?” he said.
Unfortunately, Britain’s notoriously cumbersome visa issuing machine reportedly did not impress Liu, whose VIP reservation at the UK visa office in Beijing was ignored, as he was elbowed into line by surly staff.
The China Entrepreneur Club has a limited membership of 60 leading private companies with combined revenues of £200bn a year.
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